Summer drinks vary widely in calories, ranging from 60 calories for a shot of vodka to more than 500 calories for super-sugary cocktails. If you are looking for healthy, low-calorie cocktails, look at what’s going in the cocktail shaker. Next time you are ordering a cocktail, order carefully as it will help you to avoid tons of calories.
Opt for beer, spirits, and wine with as few frills as possible. Moreover, the lower the alcohol content in your drink, the lower the calories it contains. Mixers also add a lot of calories to your cocktail. The premade margarita blend and daiquiri contain around 160 calories per 2-ounce serving. And mostly you end up sipping 12-ounce or 16-ounce glasses, which means you are taking more than 320 calories. Mix-ins are also packed up with sugar.
Ordering Tips for Healthy, Low-Calorie Cocktails
Every bar usually has a mini display fridge to store beer, wine, and champagne at the right temperature. When you are at a bar, opt for ‘clears’ like hard alcohol, champagne, wine, and beer, etc. Moreover, sipping a premium spirit rather than a sugary cocktail is surely going to reduce calorie intake. Because due to powerful flavor, you are more likely to avoid more than one drink. You should also avoid energy drinks, sugary sodas, mixers, and tonics as they can dehydrate you. Instead, you can add flavored seltzer.
Here are the best low-calorie cocktails that you can order even when you are on a diet.
A Vodka Soda
If you are looking for a low-calorie drink, the choice is clear: A vodka soda. Vodka contains only 65 calories per ounce while soda is calorie-free. If you compare a tonic and gin with a vodka soda, you can see a dramatic increase in calories. Tonic alone contains 125 calories. So, next time you are in a bar, order a vodka soda instead.
A Mojito or A Margarita
If you have to choose between a mojito or a Margarita, go with the former. Normally, mojito contains around 168 calories, but you can cut down on 60 to 70 calories per cocktail if you ditch the sugary syrup. You can cut down more calories if you add light rum to it. To make it refreshing, you can add mint leaves, fresh lime, and soda water.
Low Sugar Frosé
You can make Frosé with four ingredients: Rosé, frozen strawberries, honey, and ice. To make low sugar Frosé use a low sugar rose and skip the honey. It will reduce the sugar content and will lower the calories too. It contains much less sugar than any other frozen cocktail you find at most restaurants.
Low-sugar Frosé may have 21 to 72 calories depending on the sugar per glass. You can try Wonderful Wine Co. Rosé as it contains only 0.15 grams of sugar per 5oz. glass and is delicious too.
Light Red Wine
Different types of wine have different numbers of calories. Red wine contains about 100 calories per 5-ounce glass. So, it’s time to try a canned version of red wine if you haven’t tried it yet. The number of calories a can has is mentioned as a built-in accountability tool. But make sure, you are not buying can that contain added sugar.
Point Noir is a light red wine that contains only 121 calories per 5 oz glass and only 3.4g carbohydrates. You can also try different versions of Pinot.
Champagne Cocktail
Champagne itself and champagne-related cocktails are the least calorie cocktails. So, you can try these most forgiving in the calorie department drink. One standard flute or about 4oz. Contains fewer calories than a glass of any mixed drink or wine.
The champagne cocktail has a sugar cube, citrus twist, and bitters only. If you want to add Triple Sec or a drop of Chambord, you can add it.
